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Taking Root Plant Sale Another Springtime Success!

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Saturday June 4th, we hosted our annual Taking Root Plant Sale at the Topsham Fairground’s Exhibition Hall. Folks began to line-up around 8:15 am to get first dibs on the selection of over 2,000 plants available for purchase. The variety this year was stunning with dozens of categories to choose from including perennials, annuals, herbs, vegetable seedlings, trees, shrubs, flowers, shade, sun, and more!

This Plant Sale is our biggest fundraiser of the year and covers the day-to-day operating expenses for the Tom Settlemire Community Garden (TSCG), which includes 80 plots for community members, the Common Good Garden where volunteers grow tons of food for Mid Coast Hunger Prevention, as well as several community partnerships and research efforts.

The Plant Sale is run by an amazing lead team who start their planning for next year just weeks after the Sale. They oversee each aspect, from dividing and growing plants at TSCG, to bringing in and preparing donations from the community, to managing site logistics, volunteers, and so much more. In addition to that, dozens of volunteers coordinate major areas of the sale – everything from parking to sales to trees and shrubs. Dozens more volunteers help on the days, and even months, leading up to and on the day of the sale helping care for, move and tag plants, direct traffic, help with check-out, and assist customers pick out just the right plants for their yard. It’s really an amazing experience when you realize that essentially every aspect was coordinated and completed by a volunteer!

So, BTLT wants to say THANK YOU – to the community members that donated plants, to the community members that came to purchase plants, AND to the community members who have volunteered so many hours to bring the two together.

And to everyone that joined us last Saturday: Thank you! Your efforts resulted in roughly $13,000 raised for the Tom Settlemire Community Garden.

So many generous folks contributed to make this success:

  • All the volunteer committee chairs and their crews
  • Bath Garden Club
  • Big Top Deli
  • Butchers and Bakers
  • Coast of Maine Organic Products
  • Hannaford
  • Little Dog Coffee Shop
  • Marebrook Farm
  • Medomak Valley Highschool Horticulture Program
  • Moose Crossing
  • Portland Radio Group
  • Portland Pie
  • SweetFern Garden Design
  • UMaine Cooperative Extension Master Gardeners
  • Urban Garden Center, Topsham
  • Warmings Market
  • WCME
  • Whatley Farm
  • Each and every wonderful volunteer who helped along the way
  • And of course our loyal customers who came and purchased plants!

We hope this sincere thank you reaches everyone who helped. We’ve already begun planning next year’s sale and as always hope to improve it based on our experience and folk’s observations and suggestions.